The present invention relates to the field of surface-based computing and, more particularly, to section based security for a sectioned surface-based computing device.
Surface-based computing devices are a type of computing device in which a display is laid flat to simulate a table top. Surface-based computing devices employ the use of a multi-touch sensitive display to interact with the user. Because of the nature of a surface-based computing device's display, multiple users can interact with the computing device at once. Users can gather around the surface-based computing device's display and interact through its multi-touch interface and private user areas can be divided on the surface area for each user, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/875,216 filed Oct. 19, 2007 and entitled “DIVIDING A SURFACE OF A SURFACE-BASED COMPUTING DEVICE INTO PRIVATE, USER-SPECIFIC AREAS”. Each private user area can represent an independent computing session and/or a section of a common computing region that is specific to that user. Interactions can occur across boundaries of private user areas, such as passing documents across these boundaries so that other users can interact with content contained within a private user area. No know technique or solution exists for securing boundaries of a sectioned computing device, such as one having one or more private user areas.
FIG. 1 (Prior Art) illustrates components of a surfaced based computing device 100. The device 100 can include surface 105, computing device 110, display projector 115, and receptors 120. Processing unit 110 can contain one or more central processing units able to perform computing actions for the surface-based device 100. The processing unit 110 can include many of the same components found in everyday desktop computers, such a CPU, a motherboard, RAM, a graphics card, a WIFI transceiver, a BLUETOOTH transceiver, and the like.
The display surface 105 can be a horizontal surface that can incorporate multi-touch sensors. The touch-sensitive display can recognize objects by their shapes or by scanning tags (e.g., RFID tags) embedded in objects resting on the surface of display surface 105. The multi-touch display surface 105 can be capable of processing multiple inputs from multiple users.
Receptors 120 can detect motion/contact with the surface 105. For example, infrared light can be projected on the display surface 105 from below to be used for multiple touch sensing based upon changes in reflections detected by the receptors 120. A “machine vision” of the surface-based computing device 100 can operate in a near-infrared spectrum, such as by using an 850 nanometer-Wavelength LED light source aimed at the display surface 105. When objects touch the tabletop, the light reflects back and is picked up by multiple infrared cameras with an acceptable net resolution.
The display projector 115 can use rear-projection technologies, such as Digital light Processing (DLP) technologies, to project visible images to the display surface 105. A resolution of the visible screen can be different from the machine vision or invisible screen. For example, the visible screen can have a resolution of 1024×768, while the invisible resolution from the projectors 120 can be 1280×960, which can allow for better recognition at the edges of the display.
It should be appreciated that the components of the surface-based computing device 100 illustrate one possible variation only, and that other variations are to be considered within a definition of a surface-based computing device and within the scope of the present invention. For example, the surface 105 can utilize a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology and a resistive, capacitive, surface acoustic wave, etc. touch technology and still be considered a surface based computing device for present purposes.